Feds on track with funding to help developing countries grapple with climate change

Despite persistent federal deficits, the government says it is on track to meet a post-election promise to spend $2.65 billion by 2020 to help developing countries grapple with climate change.

As of February, Canada had provided more than $900 million in climate financing as part of its November 2015 commitment, one of the first major Liberal measures on the heels of the federal election, a spokesperson for International Development said Wednesday.

A further allotment of $169.7 million toward the program was included in new spending estimates the government tabled in Parliament this week, as it laid out new requests for spending authorities for the final three months of the fiscal year.

The funding will go towards development of low carbon, climate resilient economies in some of the regions that are most affected by weather and oceanic changes stemming from the warming of the atmosphere.

The allotments included $200 million for the second phase of the Canadian Fund for the Private Sector in Asia at the Asian Development Bank, $300 million to the Green Climate Fund and $150 million in support of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, said departmental spokesperson Amy Mills.

The spending builds on Canada’s existing climate finance programs, including the International Finance Corporation, where Canada has seen significant success in leveraging private sector investment in climate mitigation and adaptation projects around the world.

“Examples of past projects funded through this initiative include the development of a wind farm in Jamaica, which is now the country’s single largest source of renewable energy, and funding for solar farms in Zambia that will supply clean electricity at some of the lowest tariff rates in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Mills told iPolitics in an email.

“The government is well on its way to delivering on our commitment to provide $2.65 billion by 2020, and we are working with a range of trusted partners, including multilateral development banks and environment and climate-focused financial facilities.”

The funding will finance initiatives to contribute to the achievement of global climate change objectives and advance the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which includes reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, supporting climate adaptation, and empowering women and girls for climate action and mobilizing private capital for global climate action, the email said.

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3 comments on “Feds on track with funding to help developing countries grapple with climate change”

How about some funds to help Canada grapple with climate change. All this government does is assist the oil industry. There is more and more criticism of Canada out there in the world for its hypocrisy.

The whole Paris thing isa massive joke:
Germany and France will miss their targets;
China has open season to keep expanding its coal plants till 2030; EU funds new coal plants in Greece;
India will continue to expand with cheap coal declaring they have the same right to development as the west;
Majority of others wait for wealth transfer;
Etc, etc
You live in a delusional world. How is government assisting oil?

Killing the economy with a futile carbon tax and shipping off billions that will be squandered by so called developing countries (some would say sh#tholes). No oversight on how money is spent. You would think, in the least, that a smart government would funnel these funds through Canadian tech companies to assist these countries – but no.
Alarmists frequently site that all nations (less the US) have signed on to Paris but fail to acknowledge that the vast majority have done so to benefit in this wealth transfer scheme.